


A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

by Onedayatatime



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, I hate hickey, jeff loves his friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25663339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onedayatatime/pseuds/Onedayatatime
Summary: My fix-it for if Jeff found out about Hickey. I really hated how that was handled, it just Jeff caring about Abed.
Relationships: Abed Nadir & Jeff Winger, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 27
Kudos: 168





	A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

**Author's Note:**

> It might be a little ooc but I liked it.

Jeff Winger did not do relationships. Not even friendships. He’s just not that type of guy. But Abed was acting weird. Well, weirder than usual. And things were already pretty weird. Jeff knew Abed was going through a hard time. Troy leaving was hard on everyone, but Abed, he had to deal with it on a whole new level. Troy was his partner in crime, and if memory served from one really drunk night, the love of his life. But his behavior that day at the Save Greendale meeting was especially strange. He was quiet, and he kept looking down at his notebook. Jeff knew Abed hated eye contact, but he would usually look just past someone’s shoulder. What worried Jeff the most was how still Abed was. He was constantly moving, whether it was pushing pencils, playing with a coin, or just moving around. That was just Abed (He remembered there was a word for it, someone had told him it. He wasn’t paying attention when they explained it.) But now, he was sitting almost completely still. Jeff knew he was supposed to be Clone Abed, but Clone Abed was still functioning like Abed. This was so still, it could not be him. It didn’t look like he was playing a character. He was just, sitting there. Not so much like when he had that breakdown in his “happy place.” Every now and then he would hum in agreement, or write something down. It was like that time at Shirley’s wedding, or during Troy and Abed in the Morning. He was… normal. It sent shivers down his spine. This could not be good. 

So when the meeting adjourned, he was slow to pack up waiting for Abed. He asked him how the Kickpuncher movie was because that was a surefire way to get a conversation out of Regular Abed. He had been looking forward to that for so long (in all honesty Jeff was excited, it was the first time Abed was going to start doing Troy-and-Abed things, without Troy. It was a big step.)

“I didn’t go,” Abed said flatly. Not just normal flatly. Jeff had known him long enough to know this was forced. This was Normal Abed. Whatever brought out Normal Abed could only lead to bad things.

"Abed, what do you mean you didn’t go?" Was it another stop motion Christmas? Did he do that thing where he said he wanted to cut off jeff's arm? Maybe he and his dad had some sort of falling out? Oh god what if it’s his mom? Did he get a second wave of missing Troy?

"I didn’t go, stuff came up." He was looking Jeff directly in the eyes. It was worse than Normal Abed. This was My Dinner with Andre Abed. What the fuck was going on.

"What happened? I know you were looking forward to it." Jeff tries to sound cool, but it’s really hard when he’s so worried.

"Jeff, I’m an adult things come up." And he ran off.

That was it, Jeff was going to figure this out if it killed him. He didn’t want to think about what could happen if he didn’t. 

\----

"Hey Abed, it’s me Jeff again. There’s this Star Wars screening in Denver next month. The tickets say JJ Abrams is gonna be there. Tickets are gonna go fast, please let me know if you're interested. Don’t tell _anyone_ but I actually really wanted to go." Jeff called for the 14th time. He was no longer worried, he was straight up panicking. He had been pacing his office for the last hour and a half. What was it? Did Britta therapize him again? No, she started learning about ethics so she agreed not to do it.

"I don’t get why you’re all babying him, don’t you get it? He's fine," Hickey grunted.

"No, Hickey he's really not." Jeff rolled his eyes. He did not have time to deal with Hickey, he had to make sure his friend doesn’t do anything stupid.

"He told you he's fine. He’s an adult, believe him." Hickey said with something strange in his voice as he sat drawing those stupid ducks.

"Abed doesn’t understand emotions well. His own is even worse than others. He'll say he’s fine because he can’t figure out how to say he's not." Jeff explained almost robotically. It was a common remark.

"Cmon he just likes to play around, you saw that lava game!" Hickey got louder and more annoyed. He sounded guilty, and Jeff just knew this was going to end badly.

"That wasn’t a game to him! The lava was real, he couldn’t handle Troy leaving so it became real for him." He remembered Britta explaining the whole thing to him. It made too much sense, looking back. 

"That’s insane." Hickey scoffed.

"This is Greendale, everyone is insane." Jeff just smirked. Abed certainly had his quirks but after Chang was dictator, the bar for insane was just too high.

"Y’know it’d do him some good if you guys taught him some lessons" Hickey was only making it more clear, that he had _something_ to do with why Abed was broken.

"What the hell did you do." He seethed.

"I taught him his actions have consequences." Jeff was just getting angrier, Hickey’s vague answers just building up a knot in his stomach.

"What. Did. You. Do." He said through gritted teeth.

"He needed to learn, he destroyed my drawings. I kept him here to miss his movie. I just handcuffed him to the cabinet." It was the casualness in his voice that really pissed Jeff off. It was like he couldn’t see he’d done anything wrong.

"Hickey, what the actual hell?!”

"It’s not that big a deal Winger, you guys never let him grow up. You all act like he’s a bomb about to explode just cuz his friend left. He needs to stop acting like a ret-"

Jeff didn’t let him finish that sentence, especially not that word. He punched Hickey in his mouth, and they continued to wrestle. 

When they finally stopped, Hickey said, "you’re lucky I don’t call the cops on you!"

"And tell them we got in a fight cuz you handcuffed a student? That’ll go well. " He said without another word. He walked out towards the dean's office.

He swung open the dorm, not listening to the secretary outside. “Jeffery what a lovely surprise-" The Dean smiled that unsettling smile. Jeff would have been pissed if he had the capacity to be any angrier than he already was.

"Hickey's fired." He said. Well, more ordered. Dean Pelton walked around to stand next to Jeff.

"Now, Jeffery as much as I like you ordering me around -and believe me I do- Professor Hickey has tenure and you cant get him fired because you don’t like him!" The dean put his hand on his hips and leaned on his desk. Jeff was having none of it. He grabbed him by the shirt.

"Now you listen to me, fire Hickey now, or else I will tell everyone that a Greendale professor handcuffed an autistic Arab student because he was mad that his bad duck drawing was destroyed."

"I’m sorry what?" The Dean asked, still a little mesmerized by Jeffery manhandling him. He also thought that the black eye he now had was a little hot.

"Hickey handcuffed Abed to a filing cabinet," Jeff said still holding him. The Dean’s eyes flashed with something akin to anger. He politely took Jeff’s hands off his shirt, straightened himself out (well, as much as he could all things considered) 

In the most fake nice voice Jeff had ever heard, he asked "Where is he?"

___

When they arrived Hickey was sitting at his desk, once again drawing the ducks. The Dean walked towards the center of the room.

"Mr. Hickey, I am not a good Dean. I have caused this school so many problems, but I do what I can. Greendale is a lot of things. You do not come here for a good education. Our campus is not safe. Our flag is a butt. But, the people here, are probably the best you will ever meet. Abed Nadir is one of Greendale’s finest, and strictly between us? He is going to get out of here and do something great.

“Troy and Abed's antics have been the one thing that’s kept this campus going. They have caused nearly irreparable damage, and made us all better people for it. While I personally find handcuffs unbelievably sexy, there is a time and a place. And that place is never a student.. Get your stuff, and get out of here. If I ever see you anywhere near this school or Abed Nadir again, I will send Chang on you. Are we understood?" Dean Craig says, in a voice that leaves even Jeff a little frightened. 

Hickey took his drawings and left the room grumbling.

“Y’know Craig, I think that might have been your finest moment as Dean. Maybe you aren’t so bad.” Jeff smiled.

“Good, because I am going to go cry in my office for an indeterminate amount of time.” He said, patting Jeff on the shoulder. He had already started to cry. “I am not made for confrontation.”

_____

When Jeff knocked on apartment 303, he came prepared. He had not been this nervous in a very, very long time. He did not want to get this wrong. Abed answered it, he didn’t seem to strange. No, he seemed kind of strange. He didn’t seem like Normal Abed, he was mostly just Regular Abed. 

“Can we talk?” Jeff asked, like a nervous girlfriend and he didn’t know why he was acting like this.

“Sure.” Abed shrugged. He let Jeff in. “Annie isn’t home. She and Britta had plans.”

He was going to have to tear this off like a bandage. “Abed I heard what happened.”

Abed’s eyes got wide, and he seemed to panic. Suddenly he was talking to Normal Abed, but his foot was tapping, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I heard what Hickey did, Abed.” Jeff tried not to sound like he pitied Abed. Abed hated when he did that.

“It’s fine, I messed up. I needed to learn my lesson.” Abed said like it was a fact. Jeff’s heart broke a little.

“Abed, that’s not an excuse. It was an accident. He should not have handcuffed you, and I knew how important this movie was.” 

“But he’s right, you guys let me get away with stuff.” Abed was looking at Jeff’s feet which was an improvement.

“Abed, Chang kidnapped the Dean and acted as dictator of Greendale for months, and we accepted him back. We all make mistakes, we accept them and try to get better.” Jeff still doesn’t believe that happened.

“Yeah, but-”

“Abed, no buts. We like you exactly as you are. Your movie references, your moving around, your buttered noodles and all. Even on your bad days we love you. We know, I know, things haven’t been easy recently. I know how much you miss Troy. The love of your life just sailed off across the world. But you are doing so well, really. I know it doesn’t feel like it. But when you told me you were going to that movie thing, y’know what I thought?” 

“That I was a nerd?” Abed asked, Jeff could tell he was starting to believe him. He needed to give a really good Winger speech.

“A little bit. But mostly, I was proud. It’s not easy to do the things you enjoy without the person you enjoyed doing them with. Troy left because he needed to find who he is, and he is coming back to you, trust me. But you need to be your own man too. I saw that you were starting to go back to those things, and I was proud. Abed, you are going to get out of here, and I am so proud, and movies by yourself is just the beginning. Hickey should not have taken that away from you, I’m sorry, but he was just being a dick. We don’t bow down to you, you’re our friend and we understand that you’re a little different from us.”

Abed had a look on his face that Jeff could not really decipher, it looked sad. Jeff could not take it, and he pulled Abed in for a tight hug. “Did I get too Very Special Episode?”

“A little, but it was a good Winger Speech don’t worry,” Abed said, still pressed against Jeff. Jeff squeezed him really really tight to remember that he was still here, and he was okay. 

Abed pulled away for a second, “My face is leaking.” 

“It’s okay, just sit down, I’ll make you some buttered noodles.” Jeff smiled, and Abed’s face lit up. He decided to suggest, “We could watch Kickpuncher, I’ll even let you get me to watch some Inspector Spacetime.”

“I know you said how proud you were that I’m moving on, but it’s still too soon. Doing that with you- I just- I can’t-” Abed choked.

“Hey, that’s okay. Things take time. We could watch Star Wars. You still never answered me about that. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, and I need an answer.” Jeff smiled, and Abed gave him a tight-lipped nod. “Sweet, it’ll be fun.”

“Jeff about what you said, about Troy being…” He trailed off, refusing to say the words. “You’re not gonna tell anyone right?”

“God, no. I don’t care about what you two get into,” He lied, he wouldnt tell anyone, obviously. But he did care. More than he would ever admit. “Besides, I figured you two are gonna wanna do whatever weird movie tropes there are for reuniting.”

“Actually, umm. I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but Troy and I have been emailing. He doesn’t get enough wifi to talk to everyone, and we’ve been talking. I haven’t told him that I… y’know, yet.”

“Secret’s safe with me,” Jeff promised, just excited to know that Troy and Abed could still be Troy-and-Abed an ocean apart. “As long as you don’t tell anyone I did any of this.”

___

They were eating, watching Luke cry out for his aunt and uncle, when Jeff noticed something. He took the remote and paused the movie, much to Abed’s dismay. “Abed, did you get your wrist looked at?”

“No.” Abed stated, not expanding further, but they both knew why. Abed hates doctors.

“Okay, come with me.” Jeff went to the kitchen, taking down a first aid kit Annie kept in the cabinet. Luckily, it was mostly healed, and there was only a bruise. It was still a pretty big bruise. So Jeff put away the first aid kit, and took a bag of peas out of the freezer. “Just keep that there for a little.”

____

When Jeff left, he felt okay. He did not thin when he first talked to Abed all those years ago, he would be here. Doing any of this, caring about people, that was never something he thought about. But he would not have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> I know what Abed does is stimming. Please leave a comment / kudos i beg. I need some validation.


End file.
